The Broken Regulatory System

Here’s a great talk by Philip Howard, a lawyer himself and founder of the Common Good, who talks about how legal frenzy and regulatory purgatory are stifling progress and creativity.  Though the talk is devoted to legal trends generally, much of what Howard says is equally applicable to the situation in which marine renewables find themselves.  And in fact, Howard even gives a shout out to renewables – wind – by noting (at around minute 17:20) that we need to restore authorities to agencies to make decisions because if they can’t, then the power lines that will carry wind from the plains to the city can never be built.  That’s a point where I agree with Howard because in many respects, we’ve tilted so much in the direction of stakeholder input and decision by collaboration that then entities like courts and agencies which are authorized to make decisions in the public good no longer have the power to do so – which stymies progress.